


The Wicked Assassin

by Kendrickhier



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Character Death, F/F, Horror, Swan Queen Crazy Prompt Challenge, Zombies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-13
Updated: 2015-11-13
Packaged: 2018-05-01 11:48:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5204741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kendrickhier/pseuds/Kendrickhier
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emma and Regina are together, set about three years after 5x07. Zelena manages to get out of her isolation and exacts her revenge against Regina, by hiring the infamous assassin Rasputin. Can Emma and Regina both make it out alive?</p><p>Written for the Swan Queen Crazy Prompt Challenge.</p><p> </p><p>  <img/></p>
            </blockquote>





	The Wicked Assassin

A gentle awakening, slowly getting back her consciousness after a night of sleep. Her body feels entirely relaxed, an after effect of the night’s events, she’s sure. Regina wasn’t surprised to find that she was lying on her side, facing a still-asleep Emma in her bed.

No, _their_ bed.

It’s been almost three years since their kiss broke the curse of the Dark One on Emma, since they discovered those feelings for each other weren’t just mutual, but also True Love. It hadn’t been as messy as she’d anticipated; before she even tried, Robin had tried to stop her. It ended up a fight that led to their break-up, Regina finally acknowledging the truth of their situation. It had always been the tattoo that had led her to him, not love, and she was done pretending.

But with Emma she didn’t have to pretend anything. They eased into it rather than plunging in the deep immediately, despite already knowing they shared the truest of loves, mostly on the blonde’s insistence. She had to admit it had been more comfortable and far less awkward. Barely half a year later, living together seemed to be the next logical step. Zelena hadn’t even given birth to Nadia yet.

She smiled as she recalled their eventful night.

 

_Emma kissed a trail down her body, covering every part accessible to her. Every time the blonde got closer to her center, she’d trail off again on a different path. At the third passing she let out an impatient growl, making Emma chuckle. “Relax, your Majesty,” she said as she continued her upwards trail, “we have all night.”_

_Many things crossed the brunette’s mind in that moment, varying from setting those damned ropes around her wrists on fire to simply forcing herself to be patient and enjoy it. While Regina couldn’t deny she loved being worshipped like this, even without being in control, but her core was currently begging for attention. She huffed. “Having time does not mean you should pick a torturously slow pace.”_

_Regina gasped as she felt soft fingers ghosting over her slit. “Is this what you want?” The blonde whispered against her neck, nipping at the flesh lightly. She slipped her fingers between her folds, finding it more than a little wet. Emma didn’t bother to hold back a groan at the find. “Are you just_ throbbing _for some attention, because you_ need _me inside?”_

_It earned her a hissed “Yes,” from the other woman, as well as a buck of her hips. Emma pulled back at that, provoking a mildly desperate mewl._

_“I think I want to hear you beg for it.”_

_The brunette’s eyes had flashed dangerously at that. “You know a Queen doesn’t beg, dear.” Not even when driven to insanity with desire. It was a rare occurrence Regina even allowed to be topped, let alone be restrained, but she wouldn’t beg. Not in a million years._

_Emma merely responded with a smug grin, “We’ll see about that.”_

The two of them had been riling each other up all day, keeping the brunette on edge all day, so she’d succeeded in making her beg this time. It hadn’t been the first time Emma had tried, but it had been her first success. Frankly Regina hadn’t minded it as much, it had been freeing in a way, but she’d never admit that aloud. They’d been at it all night, only falling asleep around 5 in the morning.

And now, now she was looking at the woman of her affection, unruly curls sprawled all around. With a gentle smile Regina tucked the strands that were in Emma’s face behind her ear, hand trailing down past her jaw. A mischievous glint flashed in the witch’s eyes as she got an idea; the alarm hadn’t gone off yet, so there’d be some time.

The blankets below had been thrown, or rather kicked, towards the middle on Emma’s side. That left her legs uncovered, and more importantly, her hips. Regina snaked down, gently rolling the blonde on her back. As expected she didn’t wake, merely mumbled something incomprehensible.

Honestly, you could fire a cannon next to her ear and Emma would manage to remain a sleep.

Regina pressed a trail of soft kisses on her inner thighs, all the way up to her labia. Then she dragged her tongue through her folds, humming at the taste. Oh yes, she could definitely go for another round. When she reached the blonde’s clit she started making small slow circles around it.

When Emma started to get closer to consciousness, the brunette increased her pace, circling faster and firmer. She smirked to herself at the first moan, spurring her on further. When she started to squirm, Regina hooked her arms around the other woman’s legs to keep them in place.

More pressure, faster.

Emma moaned loudly, a sleepy “Gina, what are you doing?” leaving her lips. The woman paid it no mind, continuing her ministrations, figuring the answer was obvious. A surprised squeal resounded as Regina sucked her clit in her mouth, flicking her tongue against it.

_Thank the gods for sound barrier spells._

The brunette kept licking and sucking until Emma came undone, moaning out her name. She slowed her movements, not pulling away until the blonde completely rode out her orgasm. Then Regina crawled up the savior’s body, hovering above her with a slightly smug smile. “Good morning.”

“Good morning to you too.” Emma chuckled lightly, leaning up to kiss her girlfriend. “What time is it?”

Regina glanced sideways to her digital clock, eyes widening at the time. “Past 9:30 apparently. I’m running late, I have a meeting to get to.” She rolled off the blonde, muttering about how technology was unreliable and both magic and servants did a much better job.

The other woman whined, “But I haven’t returned the favor yet.”

She shot Emma an apologetic look, “Raincheck?”

“Fine, raincheck.” Emma sighed.

Regina waved her hand to clean herself up and get dressed in one of her pantsuits with one of her more comfortable heels. “Will I see you downstairs?”

Nodding, the blonde said, “Just give me a few minutes.”

And so their usual morning routine set in, albeit in a rush, Regina quickly preparing breakfast for the three of them. Well, usual routine bar taking an actual shower. It might be faster with magic, but Regina found she simply liked the peace of it in the morning, having a moment to collect your thoughts and wake up. _Indoor plumbing alone might be enough reason to stay in this realm_ , she mused.

As the smell of bacon began to spread throughout the house, it didn’t take long for Emma to get dressed and downstairs. She was sporting her usual attire, dark skinny jeans with a blue tank and her red leather jacket. Her shift officially started when the meeting began, since David would be attending in her place, but as the station’s phone was linked to her own she could afford to be a little later. It wasn’t very eventful anyway, without the usual evil threatening the town.

“The kid’s not down yet?” Usually Henry was here well before Emma; the smell of proper food waking them up seemed to be a genetic trait, somehow. “Not like him to sleep through breakfast.”

“Perhaps puberty is catching up with him. Teenagers do need a lot of sleep.” The mayor reasoned, as she prepared her own sandwich to-go. She quickly finished up the bacon and eggs for Emma and Henry, then turned to give the blonde a quick kiss. “I have to go now, lunch at Granny’s?”

Emma smiled and returned the kiss, “Definitely.” When the brunette pulled away to leave, she added, “Try not to slaughter anyone at the meeting, okay?”

The witch only smirked, “No promises.” And then she disappeared in a puff of smoke.

… Only to come right back.

“Regina?”

Wordlessly, the brunette opened the door, revealing a view that was not even close to their driveway. “This isn’t Storybrooke.” She declared, crossing her arms.

Outside it was dark and there was low hanging fog. It looked like they landed in the middle of a forest, basically how Granny’s had looked in Camelot. Except this wasn’t Granny’s, and that was most definitely not Camelot. The scenery looked wholly like they’d landed in a horror movie.

Emma closed her eyes and shook her head, before rushing forward to do a double take from the doorpost. No, definitely not Storybrooke. “What the hell?”

The brunette was staring at it blankly, trying to figure out how they got here and _where_ here was.

“I see you’re admiring your new view. Don’t you just love it, all dark and mysterious. It fits you two perfectly, really.”

The two spun back around, coming face to face with the one person they thought they’d locked up safely and wouldn’t bother them again.

“Zelena,” the former queen hissed. “Got your magic back, I see. Who freed you this time?”

The woman waved it off, “Oh let’s not bother with details now, shall we, sis? Our time is rather limited, you see.”

Emma growled, “Damn right it’s limited, you’re a dead woman.” The savior reached out with her magic, blasting a bolt of energy to knock her off her feet, but it went straight through Zelena.

She laughed, “Poor savior, did you really think I am dumb enough to show up as anything but a projection? Save your energy, trust me, you’ll need it. There’s-”

“Would you mind explaining what _our_ _house_ is doing in the middle of _the woods_?” Regina interrupted, glaring at her.

“So hostile, and here I thought we’d been doing better than that lately. Oh well, we really don’t have time for details, so I’ll give you the short version: revenge. It’s going to be so delightful to watch!” The wicked woman seemed like a five year old that had just gotten a brand new toy. She clapped her hands together, “I’ll let you in on a little secret to make this a fair game. I hired an assassin, he will be solely responsible for anything happening to you two today. Just him. And the game won’t end until one of you dies.”

Emma was about to comment, when a clattering noise could be heard from upstairs. “What the…”

“Whoop, that would be him, our time here is up. See you on the other side, sis.” The woman laughed madly, disappearing in a cloud of green smoke.

Regina didn’t hesitate and immediately transported them to Henry’s room, praying to the gods that would still listen that he’d be safe. Much to her relief – and concern at the same time – his room was empty. “He’s not here…”

“Zelena, _what_ did you do to him?!” The blonde roared.

Shaking her head, Regina placed a hand on Emma’s arm reassuringly. “She won’t hear or answer you. We’ll figure this out, but for now we need to get out of here.” Her eyes shifted to the doorway where the noise was getting closer to. “Right now.”

She groaned, but nodded, “Through the window.”

With a nod, Regina poofed them next to the house. She’d carry them somewhere safe, but she had no idea where they were at the moment and thus this was the best thing she could do. They both looked around, hoping they could make some sense of their surroundings, but unfortunately the fog prevented them from properly doing that. “We need to stick together. No antics that make us split up, you understand? If we lose each other, poof back to the mansion.”

Emma hummed her approval, having seen more than her fair share of horror movies. Splitting up was the worst thing you could do in a situation like that, yet they always separated and got themselves killed. Well, not the two of them, assassin or not.

Then a bang could be heard, the front door slamming open and revealing their target…

“A zombie, seriously? That can’t be the assassin, right?” The blonde scrunched up her nose in disgust; it really looked like a rotten corpse. She glanced sideways towards Regina, who seemed to be shocked by the revelation. “ _Right_?”

When the creature looked their way, Regina sprung back to action. “Run.”

That’s the only warning Emma got before the other woman dragged her along and sprinted away. _In heels._ “Wait, Regina, why are we running? Aren’t zombies super slow?”

“This is not an ordinary zombie, or did you not notice the force behind opening our _locked front door?_ ”

Oh. “Okay, next question, do you know what that is then? And why it would want to kill us?”

The brunette swallowed, looking back briefly to see if the creature was chasing them. It was, but slower than anticipated. Clearly it was made for power rather than speed, which the bulk could have given away. “There is only one assassin I know that utilizes necromancy. He’s from our land, and no target has ever survived him. Word is the last thing you see before you die is his face. No one alive knows what he actually looks like.”

“Great, okay, so we just kill everyone we see? Zelena did mention he was the only one here, aside from us. What’s his name?”

“Rasputin.”

“Rasputin?” That name rang a bell. Emma had seen the movie Anastasia when she was younger, remembered perfectly what the guy looked like. He’d sold his soul for eternal life and being able to curse the Romanov family, but of course the little girl Anastasia had gotten away. He returned for his revenge, but failed. “You mean the living skeleton with the singing roaches? Sure, he’s creepy, but isn’t he supposed to be dead?”

Regina shook her head, “That tale sounds a lot more lovely than reality. I know he was a prior student of Rumplestiltskin’s, that Rumple lost interest in him because he was obsessed with bringing back the dead. Just… Not as humans, but as monsters. It’s initially what drew him in, until Rasputin wouldn’t let go of that obsession. He killed many to reap their souls, used those souls to reawaken the dead and supposedly keep his life. That’s how he got his revenge, no survivors.”

“But… Anastasia, didn’t she get away?”

“I’m afraid not. No one has ever seen him, so no one could kill him.”

Emma sighed. “I guess he doesn’t look like his Disney counterpart either. He sounds human. Magical, but not a walking skeleton.”

“Possibly.” The brunette finally slower their run to a fast paced jog, having an advantage over the creature now. “I might be able to locate him if he is human. There’s a spell that could show life forms in the area, and I don’t think the undead counts as life form.”

“Is there anything we can do to keep that zombie away, or to harm him?”

Regina shook her head, “I don’t know, but you could try decapitation.”

The blonde nodded and brought the two of them to a stop. “Then you go try that spell, while I hold him off.” She materialized her gun in her hands, something she kept in her nightstand just in case. While the lack of ammunition could eventually become a problem, for now there was just one of them to deal with.

When the creature was close enough, she shot him right in the head. Unfortunately it didn’t even slow him down. “Shit,” she hissed, poofing her father’s old sword instead.

The witch had almost finished her spell by now, trying not to be distracted by the cursing from her other half. She continued her incantation and a map showed up in front of her, black dots indicating life forms. With a huff, she spotted three dots at their current location, meaning that zombie counted as well. Of course they’d count a soul as living being. There were about ten other dots spread out throughout the area, six of them centered around a certain area.

As much as she loathed to admit it, that was probably their best bet.

The sound of a sword hitting flesh drew her attention back to her surroundings, quickly looking over at Emma who had just swung her sword through the creature’s neck. While it seemed to be disoriented, it still continued to punch around him. Like a headless chicken.

“Well, that’s as good as it gets, I guess.” The blonde sighed.

Regina summoned a fireball and threw it at the body, checking if burning it would help any. The ground caught fire, however the body didn’t catch flames. She pinched the bridge of her nose and waved her hand, putting a solid cage around both body and head. “I don’t know how to extract souls, but my guess is that’s the only way to kill them. Trapping is our only option.” The brunette did a second take on Emma, spotting a small cut on her left forearm. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, it’s just a scratch. No signs of a zombie infection,” Emma joked. “So, did the spell work?”

“Yes, but unfortunately it’s based on souls, so I couldn’t figure out who is Rasputin.” She showed Emma the map. “But it has to be one of them.”

Emma took a good look at it, taking the locations in, hoping to remember them. A loud banging startled her, spinning back around towards the steel contraption, now sporting a fist-sized dent. “Uhm, Regina, how thick did you make those walls?”

“Thick enough to make that impossible from happening. It must be magically enhanced strength, which means nothing can stop it, merely slow it down. Let’s go, now.”

\------

Grinning wickedly, Zelena got up from the monitors to inspect her subjects. The three of them were wearing a helmet that was connected to a computer, which contained the virtual world they were in, enhanced with magic to actually put them _in_ that world. They were also under influence of an enhanced glove that made sure any injuries sustained there would be transferred to their physical bodies. After all, it wouldn’t make much sense to kill them there, only to have them still alive here.

Rasputin also had one of those gloves, pure for the fun of it. Where’s the fun in hunting when there wasn’t any risk?

It had been quite a hazard to get the two women in there in the first place. The woman had concealed herself in their bedroom, figuring it would be best to kidnap them while asleep. But of course the two _had_ to have sex that night of all nights. _All damned night._ She’d ended up painfully aroused from watching the two of them, too intrigued not to watch, before she could finally make her move. And give them some clothes, because having them naked was just too distracting.

At least she hadn’t had to kidnap Rasputin. She was the only one alive who knew what he looked like, because his physical body had been a requirement for this job. So there was a young dark haired man sitting in the third chair, looking no older than begin thirty, with a black goatee. He was quite handsome, actually.

She walked over to the passenger seats, looking at the lifeless brunette first. Gripping the woman’s collar, she yanked Regina close to her face. “Just wait, when I’m done with you there will be nothing left for you, and I will be the one with the happy ending.” Zelena growled, basically throwing her back in the chair. She then turned to Emma, taking the blonde’s left arm in her hand. Inspecting the small cut, the redhead laughed gleefully. She couldn’t wait to share this news. Quickly grabbing her phone, she dialed a number.

Robin had arranged for her to have the cellular device and taught her how to use it, so she could listen to her daughter’s first words when he’d allow it. He’d felt sorry for her. The others didn’t know she had it, and she’d kept it well hidden. Nadia was her everything, and she’d already missed so much of the two year old’s life, she really didn’t want to miss more than she had to.

Regina hadn’t allowed her to see her daughter in person, something that only added to the pique, the resentment she had for her sister. A changed woman towards everyone, but ever the Evil Queen towards Zelena.

When the phone got picked up, the woman grinned broadly. “Everything is set, it’s working perfectly! Once Rasputin is through with them in there, we can all be together, my love. We will have a chance to run away and start a new life.”

_“Why can’t you leave him to it and come here now? I have a bad feeling about this, Zelena.”_

“Oh don’t be such a downer, everyone knows the biggest downfall of villains is leaving the hero alone before their demise. Plus it’s just no fun! I want to see her suffer, surely you understand.”

A sigh from the other side of the line. _“Okay, but you come here the_ moment _one of them dies and then we’ll leave.”_

“Of course, of course. Make sure everything is packed, it shouldn’t be long now. Rasputin has never failed a job, like you have never missed your mark. I’ll see you soon.”

_“See you soon. Oh, and Zelena?”_

“Yes?”

_“I love you.”_

That earned him a genuine smile. “I love you too, Robin.”

\------

After running about a kilometer in the direction of the six dots, during which Emma had switched from the sword to her gun again, they spotted what was most likely the sanctuary for a wizard like Rasputin: a graveyard. While the area was mercifully small, the location was definitely not. Immediately Regina cast a spell on the ground to make sure the dead still lying in their tombs wouldn’t be able to get up.

After all, ashes were useless to a necromancer.

Unfortunately there were still about five zombies around here, six if they were unlucky and this wasn’t the place. Emma kept an eye on the movement of the dots on the map, moving their way through the graveyard. In the dark this place gave her the creeps, tombs and tombstones all around them, an infinite amount of places to hide. It wouldn’t be the first time to catch someone in a graveyard, but it’d be far less pleasant than just some ordinary person who skipped bail.

Emma frowned as she found the dots moving quickly, spreading out over the graveyard, though one remained unmoving. “And we’ve just found our first suspicious target. Follow me.”

She moved through the graveyard with surprising grace, seemingly knowing exactly how to reach the being she wanted to reach. The brunette would actually believe her savior knew where to go, based on the air of confidence around her, right up to the point where they ran into a dead end.

And the dots were moving towards them now, even the previously static one.

“Shit!” She raked a hand through blonde locks. “Okay, I fucked up, we’re fucked, I’m sorry.”

Regina merely rolled her eyes, glancing at the map over the blonde’s shoulder. “All of them are coming here, ten zombies and Rasputin alike. We’re not ‘fucked’, we’re about to meet our hunter. We just have to make sure we don’t die.”

Emma looked at her with a deadpan expression. “Oh, is that all, your Majesty? Don’t die at the hands of magically strengthened zombies that can punch through everything. Sure! No problem!” She threw up her hands in exasperation.

“And they say I’m the dramatic one.” She shook her head and cast a protection spell around them, something including a sound barrier. “You forget we have magic on our side. Now, are there any cons you might think appropriate for the situation? Like how we got Zelena the first time?”

The blonde wrecked through her brain, eyes widening slightly in realization. “He only shows up when his victim is about to die, right?” The other woman nodded. “And he’s coming this way, so he’s about to kill one of us. But he only has to kill _one_ of us. So what if we let one of us get captured while the other hides so they can kill him instead?”

Regina scoffed, “That’s the plan you want to go with? Risk one of our lives? What if he’s more powerful than expected Emma, what if we can’t kill him, what happens then? Henry needs _both_ of us.”

“I can just poof out of their hold, right?”

“Yes, but what if you can’t? I’m not going to let you sacrifice your soul for me again, Emma, I can’t lose you.” She shook her head, “No, let them take me, you have your gun and your magic.”

Emma took a deep breath. “Okay, but you better not die on me either, Regina. I can’t lose you, either.”

The witch cupped her cheek, kissing her lips gently. “Promise. Now go, they need to think we split up.”

With a nod, the blonde disappeared in smoke, then no sign from her anymore at all. While that was the point, it did make Regina a little nervous. She was about to be at the mercy of their assassin, after all. Well, more or less anyway.

When the brutes managed to take down her protection spell, there was no backing out anymore. They grabbed a firm hold of her, painfully so, one on each arm and lifting her up from the ground. Another one stepped in front of her with a dumb goofy grin, taking her hands in his. He didn’t bother with gentleness, crushing them in an instant, the brunette not being able to keep from crying out in pain.

_No magic then, great. Please find a way to kill this bastard, Emma._

Thank god Rasputin didn’t take long to appear, or who she presumed to be their hunter as he was the only one to appear human. There was a menacingly sinister grin gracing his features, closing in on her. “And so our game comes to an end,” he croons, lifting a finger to trail past her jaw. “Did your _girlfriend_ abandon you, fearing what would come?”

Regina grit her teeth, jerking her face away from a surprisingly well taken care of hand. She glared daggers at the man, lowering her voice dangerously, “Who says I didn’t send her away so she wouldn’t have to see me _kill you_?”

This only served to broaden his grin, “Big words from a helpless witch.” He poked at one of her broken hands, making her hiss. “No hands, no magic. I’m going to enjoy taking your soul fro-…”

A bang interrupted his sentence, and Regina’s head snapped towards the source of the sound, only finding nothing. She huffed, looking back at her aggressor, spotting a gaping wound at one side of his head. No exit wound.

And then the lifeless body dropped to the ground.

“What took you so long?” The brunette snapped, still not spotting Emma anywhere. The corpses holding her had first slackened dropping her, before dropping themselves. She was free again, but damn it all she couldn’t heal herself without a functional hand.

An embarrassed Emma revealed herself about a meter before her. “Sorry, invisibility was harder than anticipated, it took me a few tries.” She closed the distance, gently lifting an arm so she could start healing Regina’s right hand.

When she managed enough, the witch swatted her away and healed her left hand, then finishing the right one properly. “What’s done is done, we just need to find a way home.”

“Did you really think it was that easy?” Zelena’s voice sounded, appearing beside the couple. “Kill the assassin and both of you will survive and go home?”

Emma narrowed her eyes at the woman, “You said one of us dies and the game is over.”

She laughed, “One of _you_ _two_ , yes, I didn’t mean the _three_ of you. How is it revenge if the assassin counts as well? No, this changes nothing, you still can’t escape this place until one of you dies.”

“Where is Henry, Zelena?” Regina asked, or rather demanded to know.

“Well, I guess you’ve earned that answer, I’m honestly surprised he could die so easily when he’s never failed. Henry’s safe, don’t worry, he’s not in this place. He’s at home, probably wondering where his moms went. Or still asleep, who knows, really.”

They both let out a sigh of relief.

“But he’s going to keep missing you until you return, which only I can make happen. Better hurry, ladies, or he’s going to miss both of his mothers rather than just one of them!”

\------

When David noticed Regina’s absence that morning, he grew a little concerned. The meeting was adjourned; without the Mayor present, there was nothing they could do. The first thing he’d done was go to the mansion, only to find that it was just Henry in there. They’d searched the house but found it empty, without any signs of a break in or a kidnapping.

He’d dropped Henry off with Snow then, who’d take him for breakfast at Granny’s, and quickly arranged for a search party in town. When that reaped no fruits he went to Belle and Rumplestiltskin for some magical help, in hopes they still had some. And thankfully they did still have a locator spell of sorts, though less accurate than where you could just follow the object. An enchanted pendulum above a map that would point out the location where you had to be.

And it just so happened to be at an abandoned station somewhere on the tracks. Which is where he was currently heading in the sheriff’s cruiser. When he finally spotted the station, there were only a few abandoned freight wagons, all of decent age.

He braced himself, gun at the ready as he charged into the first metal one. The man looked around carefully, only finding that one to be empty. When he got out on the other side, he spotted some light coming from an old wooden one. He quickly went to that one, bracing himself again, gun in front of him when he entered. When his eyes caught Zelena, who seemed to be entranced by something, he didn’t hesitate to shoot.

They’d all previously agreed that if she were to get out without permission, she was a dead woman on principle. It would be addressed at a meeting first before letting her out, so it wouldn’t happen accidentally. And Zelena being out here in an abandoned train station? Definitely not an accident.

The body of the woman dropped lifelessly, knocking over a cup of coffee, spilling all over the computer system. Electrical crackles were audible, and for a moment David was afraid the whole thing might just explode, when he remembered that wasn’t a danger with computers. Just power outage when you’re unlucky.

Taking a relieved breath, he dared to look around the rest of the wooden wagon, spotting three bodies in the passenger seats. The first he spotted was a young man, though he was very clearly dead with that bullet wound at the side of his head. A little bit ahead of him he spotted the two women he was looking for, Emma and Regina, who were just beginning to move again. He could hear the blonde murmur a “What the hell just happened?”

Rushing forward, he noticed they were tied to their seats with rope. “Emma, Regina, it’s me. Are you two okay?”

“Dad, is that you? I can’t see a damned thing, is there a helmet on my head or something? It feels heavy.”

“Yes, it’s me.” David quickly removed the black monstrosity from Emma’s head, pleased it was that easy, then did the same for Regina.

A quick glance down and the brunette waved her fingers, untying the ropes. She could sense the magic coming from the glove, but tried to take it off nonetheless. Surprisingly, it just came off. Regina looked around, trying to figure out where they actually were.

Emma, while also having taken off the glove, rubbed her temples instead. “God, that left me with one killer headache. Seriously, what just happened? One moment Zelena’s there, the next moment we’re… here.”

When Regina turned around to see more than just the wood surrounding them, she spotted a very much dead Zelena on top of a computer monitor. “It would seem your father shot your sister-in-law.”

The blonde scrunched up her nose, “Please, never call her that again. That’s horrifying.”

Regina smirked, “I could go on with family titles, like your mother killing your mother-in-law?” Emma groaned. “Or how your mother was my stepdaughter?”

“Oh my god, please stop, don’t make this headache worse.”

David groaned as well, “I agree with Emma, the family tree is a curse on its own.”

The older woman snickered, then soothed both of their headaches with magic. “Better?”

Emma smiled. “Much better. Now let’s get out of here, we’ll deal with this mess later.”

\------

About a week later, Zelena’s burial happened, with Robin as one of the few attenders, together with Rumple, who was merely there to pay is respects rather than truly say goodbye. The thief might be the only one truly mourning her, Nadia never having known her mother, and feeling the loss of a lover.

It was hard for Robin, and Regina tried to support him wherever she could. She knew that he’d helped Zelena escape, but she also knew love would make you do crazy things. He wasn’t inherently a bad man. She and Emma looked after Roland and Nadia whenever he needed some time, and during those times they were a very big happy family of five.

Eventually Robin learned to live with the pain, and Nadia and Roland were back with him full time. The mansion felt a little empty after their departure, and it made Regina realize what she wanted. Today of all days, she decided to bring it up, just having tucked Henry in. He was getting older and rarely allowed it anymore, but today he’d actually asked for it, for old time’s sake.

With a steadying breath, she entered the study where Emma sat, with a glass of cider. With a smile she realized there was one for her on the table as well, and she took a seat.

“So, what’s up? I know you’ve been wanting to talk to me about something.” The blonde started, sipping her cider.

Taking a big sip of her own glass, she braced herself. No beating around the bush, just out with it, like ripping off a band-aid. “How would you feel about adopting another child?”

Emma nearly choked on the cider, trying to swallow slowly. It resulted in a painful sensation through her esophagus, but at least she kept it in. “Okay, did not see that one coming.” She put the glass back on the table. “You want another child? And raise it with me? Like, the whole parenting ride together?”

Regina simply nodded, taking an even larger swig of her drink. “Or we could look into becoming foster parents, if you’d rather?” When her partner just stared at her, she sighed. “With Nadia and Roland here, it just felt so right, and I realized that I wanted this. You, me, the bigger family I dreamt of as a young girl… I didn’t think I’d ever want that again, but I suppose dreams never completely die.”

When Emma still didn’t move or say anything, she grew a little concerned. “Emma? Are you okay? We don’t have to, I’m perfectly happy with just you and Henry, I-…”

Whatever she wanted to say next was cut off. The blonde had been up in a flash, now straddling her. She held Regina’s cider with one hand so it wouldn’t fall, the other at the back of her head as she kissed her deeply. The brunette relaxed, kissing her back and moving her free hand to Emma’s lower back. When Emma pulled away, a teary-eyed smile was in place.

“Yes, I’d love to have more kids with you.”


End file.
